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Dog Dies From Heat Stroke After Stay at Marysville Grooming Store

MARYSVILLE (Mike McCarthy) -- A Union County family blames a pet service business for the death of its dog.

"It's like losing a child. It's like losing a loved one. It takes a while to sink in,” owner Rick Collier said. “I didn't think I’d cry as much as I did."

Collier says he took his Yorkshire Terrier, “Bogey,” to be groomed at JB’s Pet Corral on Columbus Avenue in Marysville.

He called to check on the dog when staff was late to call him on July 21, he said.

“They said he’d been groomed. They sent him outside to go to the bathroom. They got busy. They forgot about him,’ Collier said.

The dog had been placed in a secured fenced-in concrete area where there is no shade, according to a Marysville Police report. The high temperature that day was 84 degrees, records show.

"[Staff] hesitated to tell my wife how long they left him outside. Finally, she got them to say they left him outside about 45 minutes,” Collier said. When Collier called, staff was “trying to cool Bogey down,” according to the report.

A local veterinarian diagnosed Bogey with heat stroke and advised the dog should go to the OSU Veterinarian Clinic in Dublin, police wrote. “He was very critical, definitely required intensive care upon arrival,” OSU Veterinarian Leigh Fenderbosch said.

The dog’s condition worsened, Fenderbosch said, and Collier consented to have the dog euthanized on July 23.

“You’re thinking about what the dog is going through and the suffering,” Collier recalled. “Then, when he passed it was pretty tough.”

A humane agent is investigating whether or not animal neglect charges will filed.

The owner of JB’s Pet Corral, Jeff Loulan, said “it was a very unfortunate situation” and was “terribly sorry it happened.”

He declined to answer any specific questions about what happened.

An employee told police, “The owner and his wife, Beth, did everything they could to save Bogey,” according to the report.

Collier says the incident should be a reminder of the dangers of leaving dogs unattended in the heat.

“These people are professionals. This is what they do. They board dogs. They groom dogs. They should know better. This should not have happened," he said.

JB’s Pet Corral has agreed to pay any expenses related to the dog’s death, according to the police report. Dog Dies From Heat Stroke After Stay at Marysville Grooming Store